Amando "Jun" Ducat was taken away by police after the 10-hour standoff on a school bus on the streets of Manila that saw the government let him give a rambling address on national radio demanding better housing and education.

 Ducat, a veteran attention-seeker who kidnapped two priests 20 years ago, had repeatedly promised not to hurt the 32 children, all of whom were released after he appeared to hand over at least one hand grenade to police.

 "I apologise for taking this harsh step," Ducat said in a brief speech via a public address system connected to the bus before he freed the youngsters and two teachers and gave himself up.

 "I ask the forgiveness of the people of Parola," he said, referring to the slum neighbourhood in Manila where most of the children live.

 "I did what I did because of my love for you."

 Some of the children were seen smiling from the bus during the standoff and many in the enormous crowd of onlookers chanted Ducat's name in what appeared to be support for his appeal to give them a better future.

 "Ducat, Ducat, Ducat!" the crowd shouted. Some held up signs reading: "We support you."

 He could be seen tenderly kissing some of the children on the forehead before they were released.

 During the tense standoff earlier, Ducat called a radio station and demanded free education and free housing for 145 pre-schoolers, including the hostages, at the Musmos Day Care Center he runs in the city's slum Tondo district.

 In a rambling discourse, he had vowed to surrender peacefully if his demands were met and pledged he would not hurt the children.

 "I love these children, that's why I am here," he said. "I will not start any shooting," he said. One who reportedly had a fever was released hours before the crisis was resolved.

 The bizarre drama began on what was supposed to be an annual field trip for the young children, most believed to be under age five, to a mountain resort.

 Instead, the bus ended up parked near city hall with a handwritten message on cardboard in the bus windscreen saying the children and teachers were being held hostage.

 Police initially believed he may have had up to two accomplices on board, but there was no sight of them as Ducat surrendered. He was whisked away in a police van after the first children were lifted to safety and it was not immediately clear if he had in fact acted alone.

 Ducat reportedly had a history of seeking attention.

 In 1987, he took two Roman Catholic priests hostage using fake grenades in a building contract dispute.

 The priests were later released safely and Ducat was charged, but the case failed to finish, former Manila police chief Senator Alfredo Lim told Philippine television.

 Police said Ducat also climbed to the top of a monument in the city in a 1995 stunt to demand that Chinese-Filipinos be disqualified from Philippine elections.

Agence France Presse